There is a station that is about 75 miles away (as the crow flies) that I would like to be able to listen to in my home. The station frequency is 89.3, if that is of any consequence. I know that having a higher quality radio would help and currently I only have cheap radios in the house. I have also heard that I can make a homemade antenna with a specific length that would be optimized for the frequency of my choice. So, my question is, Is a homemade antenna coupled with a good quality radio going to do a good job of bringing in a fm signal from 75 miles away? Any other suggestions to accomplish this? Thanks!
2007-06-04 12:22:46 · 6 answers · asked by Unorthodox 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
75 miles can be done. first you need a radio that has an external antenna connection. next, go to radio shack, they have FM antennas that are directional, so that they hopefully will block out other stations that may be closer to you.
However not all FM stations are treated equally. The class C stations run 100,000 watts and get out for long distance. Some are class A, LPFM or translators and might be running only 10 to 250 watts, which may make the reception highly dependent on local interference conditions.
Try website www.radio-locator.com they will list what stations you should be able to receive.
2007-06-04 14:09:10 · answer #1 · answered by lare 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on how well 89.3's wattage is. Being below 92, I would tend to think that the station is college radio. And having said that, those stations tend not to carry far signals to begin with. For you to possibly pick up a station 75 miles away, a station would have to transmit at least 50KW (50,000 watts) with a high location for an antenna. Having said that, in Poughkeepsie, New York (70 miles away from New York City), I can pull in the New York City stations above 92 since most of the stations signals transmit from the Empire State Building at high wattage.
2016-04-01 02:18:38 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
With FM stations more than 30 miles away, you already depend on the so-called diffraction phenomenon where a FM signal follows the earth's curvature.
You may also find that another station, closer to you, transmits close to 89.3MHz, so your receiver's AFC will always try to tune to such stronger signal.
You need a directional FM antenna, mounted on a pole (or roof) and put up as high as possible. A so-called Yagi antenna is your best bet
http://www.kyes.com/antenna/antennatypes/antennatypes.html
2007-06-04 13:19:15 · answer #3 · answered by Marianna 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should be able to pick it up with a high gain antenna and a receiver with decent performance as long as you have direct line of sight with the source. If there is a mountain range or high buildings between you and the transmitter you can probably forget about it.
2007-06-04 16:50:04 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Um yeah, but how high is your antenna? FM travels in almost straight lines until it starts bouncing of the upper atmosphere and giving you skywaves. You are far to close for that to do you much good, and just far enough to be blocked by the curve of the earth.We used to hook our radio to the TV antenna.
2007-06-04 13:01:43 · answer #5 · answered by U-98 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course you can, get the antenna and put it up as high as you can.
2007-06-04 12:42:44 · answer #6 · answered by DR DEAL 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋